Elizabeth Strout just so happens to be one of my favorite authors. I like everything this prize-winning writer has written, and "Olive, Again," the sequel to "Olive Kitteridge" (2008), is no exception.
Olive Kitteridge is 10 years older and solidly in the twilight of her years. After the death of her first husband, Henry, this crusty, retired math teacher surprises her small town and herself by remarrying in her 70s. Once again, the reader is caught up in the intricacies of small-town life in Kitteridge's fictional town of Crosby, Maine.
Like the book's predecessor, it is a collection of stories that follow Olive from her 70s into her 80s as she navigates the new terrain of a second marriage and widowhood, surviving a heart attack and finally moving into the Maple Tree Apartments, or as Olive refers to them "that place for old people."
Through it all, Olive's life observations make us think, laugh and shed a few tears.
By no means has Olive lost her edge in this sequel. She is still the painfully honest character we grew to love. In Crosby, Olive knows everyone and everyone knows her. Many residents she taught in school. Olive has no filter, and she freely shares her opinions on the people around her and the things they do, or don't do.
One could easily dismiss Olive as a curmudgeon who should keep her opinions to herself, and rightly so. I choose to believe there is a little Olive in all of us. Along with her heavy dose of honesty, there is an understanding of human nature and a compassionate decency Olive possesses, which make her likeable in spite of herself. Love, loss and the complexities and pain of relationships are central themes in both Olive books - something we all live out in our own lives each day.
Strout won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for "Olive Kitteridge" and is the author of many other wonderful novels, including "Amy and Isabelle," "The Burgess Boys," "My Name is Lucy Barton" and "Anything is Possible." Strout has won numerous awards for her writing and is more than worthy of your reading time.
Claudia Cook is library director of the Missouri River Regional Library.